Disco de Oasis: “Masterplan”

First, let me point out that Oasis is my favorite band. There isn't an Oasis song I don't like. So I'm going to guide you throughout the entire album and give you my overall opinion of the album.

The Masterplan is a collection of Oasis B-sides from singles covering their first three albums (Definitely Maybe, (What's The Story) Morning Glory, and Be Here Now). The featured tracks and the track listing were decided from an online poll of Oasis fans in 1998.

First up: "Acquiesce" This is probably the most famous Oasis b-side out there and often played live. This song is fantastic, the combined vocal solos of both Liam and Noel Gallagher make this song magnificent. Noel's solo seems to sound better than Liam's, but nevertheless a beautiful song.

Track Two: "Underneath The Sky" Liam Gallagher sings. It sounds good, not as strong as "Acquiesce" but an upbeat and nice tune.

Track Three: "Talk Tonight" Noel with a beautiful guitar based song. This is something you would hear a street performer sing, the lyrics are sad, but the tune is relaxing. Great song.

Track Four: "Going Nowhere" Noel sings once again, and the song is another sad one, but there is a mix of brass and string to lighten it up. A nice soft listen.

Track Five: "Fade Away" After the first few chords you know this is from the Definitely Maybe era. Hard, pure rock from Oasis with a good amount of "Shoegazer" influence. Never fails to slam a good dose of energy into me.

Track Six: "The Swamp Song" If you liked the untitled filler tracks on Morning Glory and wanted the whole song, that's exactly what "The Swamp Song" is. It was originally a warm up song for recording sessions, and you can tell why. Nice hard guitar with even a mix of harmonica in it all. Fantastic little tune.

Track Seven: "Listen Up" My personal favorite song of the album. It plays hard but feels soft. Bittersweet and beautiful. Noel's voice shines and the lyrics flow magnificently. This song should have been a single instead of a b-side. A hidden gem.

Track Eight: "I Am The Walrus (Live)" First of all, this song was not played live. It was recorded during a soundcheck with the audience noises later added in. Nevertheless an entertaining song, and a faster paced and harder rocking song than the original. Seems to get repetitive at the end though, but that might have been why Oasis sometimes played this song last at concerts in their early days.

Track Nine: "Rockin' Chair" Supposedly written by Noel Gallagher back in 1990, this song makes an interesting b-side. Nice acoustic guitar solos and the organ mixes in well. A very well written song for it being one of Noel's firsts.

Track Ten: "Half The World Away" A great song and another bittersweet one. Noel sings very well, while the electic guitar and organ mix in softly and nicely.

Track Eleven: "(It's Good) To Be Free" Another hard rocker that sounds like "Shoegazer" rock as opposed to Britpop. The lyrics could use a bit of support, but I nevertheless enjoy it. There is a bit of nice organ that sounds like an electric guitar.

Track Twelve: "Stay Young" Another famous b-side, featured in the film "The Faculty". The lyrics sound like a teen revolution, "Stay young and invincible", but the melody is upbeat and happy. Nice song.

Track Thirteen: "Headshrinker" My second favorite song of the album. Sounds like rock overcooked to a crisp. This is as hard and pure as Oasis gets. Fantastic song.

Track Fourteen: "The Masterplan" The track that the album was named after makes a nice finish for the album. Strings and brass mixed in well in a bittersweet and smooth song. Don't miss the guitar solo (a reversed recording of a solo). Leaves you with a great aftertaste for the entire album.

Now, the songs that should have been here but didn't make the cut. Sadly, my favorite Oasis b-side (and quite a popular one as well), "Sad Song", is missing. In fact, they should have added all of the Definitely Maybe-era b-sides, because they were by far the best. "Alive", "Take Me Away", "D'yer Wanna Be a Spaceman", and "Cloudburst" are some of the best Oasis b-sides but sadly arent on The Masterplan. Instead there was more focus on Morning Glory-era b-sides. "Angel Child" was another b-side from the Be Here Now-era that I very much enjoy but just wasn't there.

Overall, this is a great album. I highly reccomend it to anybody who just loves music. The album is one of my favorites because it encompasses the sound of Oasis through three different albums and most songs are beautifully bittersweet. I also enjoyed hearing Noel's voice often, which is nice considering Liam sings most of the singles. At time of writing there are supposedly plans for a sequel to "The Masterplan" covering Oasis b-sides from their next three albums, and it will be interesting to see what makes that grade.

This is indeed a fantastic collection of Oasis b-sides.

"The Masterplan" is a collection of b-sides to thesingles released in the UK from 1994-1997. It really says something about a band's talent when an album full of b-sides is as good as or better than some oftheir studio albums.

"Acquiesce" is a full throttle hard rock anthem in which Liam sings the verses and Noel sings the chorus. It's a good enough track to have been released as a single itself. This song is probably the best hard rock song Oasis have ever recorded.

"Underneath The Sky" is a heavily Beatles influenced tune with rather absurd lyrics but a very catchy melody. Not one of my favorite b-sides, but a pleasant listen nonetheless. Liam's vocals are quite good on this one.

"Talk Tonight" is a brilliant Noel acoustic number. Although Noel claims he isn't a romantic person, you can tell he's pouring his heart out into the lyrics. Some people find this song a bit slow, but the lyrics are so deeply moving and the melody is quite catchy after you listen to it a few times. Overall, this is one of Noel's best acoustic songs.

"Going Nowhere" is a brilliantly orchestrated song sung by Noel. This was written 4 years before Oasis released their first album, hence the lyrics, "I'm gonna be a millionaire", not "I AM a millionaire". The bridge and chorus are very catchy, and the brass section adds a nice touch to this song.

"Fade Away" is not one of Oasis' best b-sides. The chords to the verses were stolen from Wham!'s "Freedom", and the chorus is bland and repetitive. I'm surprised so many people seem to like this song. It lacks both originality and a catchy tune.

"The Swamp Song" is an instrumental that simply doesn't belong on this album. Noel Gallagher is a genius songwriter, but he just can't write instrumentals. The tune is boring and repetitive, with the same chords being played over and over and over again. It's one of those tunes that seems like it will never end.

"I Am The Walrus" is a cover of the famous Beatles tune. The band has done a great job of bringing this song into the 90's, as they've electrified it quite a bit and given it a more uptempo twist.

"Listen Up" is a great b-side. It has a very catchy melody and I love the lyrics to the bridge and chorus. However, this song is a blatant rip-off of another great Oasis song, "Supersonic". If you don't believe me, try singing the chorus to "Supersonic" using the lyrics to "Listen Up", and vice versa. Noel has ripped off so many other artists, I guess it was about time he ripped himslef off. Regardless, this is a top notch tune.

"Rockin' Chair" is a classic. This song has very introspectve lyrics about what it's like to be lonely, one of the greatest melodies Noel has ever created, and a blistering vocal performance from Liam. This should have been the a-side and "Roll With It" should have been the b-side.

"Half The World Away" is another Noel acoustic number. While I love the song's lyrics, I find the music and bit slow and bland. "Talk Tonight" is a far better acoustic number.

"(It's Good) To Be Free" is another more hard rock track with a definite edge. Still, it has some great lyrics and a melody that really grows on you over time. Liam's vocal performance adds to the overall great "sound" of this song.

"Stay Young" is one of the best Oasis b-sides. It should've been on the "Be Here Now" album, but Noel did a foolish thing and removed it for the bland and uninspiring "Magic Pie". This song has an incredibly catchy melody, an anthemic chorus, and uplifting lyrics about staying young and invincible. Noel doesn't like this song for some reason, but most fans disagree with him.

"Headshrinker" is a another hard rock tune that is hardly a favorite of mine. It's lyrics are unintelligible, and the melody never really goes anywhere. It's just an uninspiring hard rock song. Oasis have far better b-sides that could've taken the place of this song on the album.

"The Masterplan" is an absolute masterpiece. Noel himself believes he's never written a better song, and I agree. This was a b-side to the "Wonderwall" single, and after I heard it performed on MTV Unplugged I was so impressed I searched everywhere until I found the single in the "Morning Glory" gold singles box set. From then on I've spent a small fortune collecting every UK single Oasis have ever released. "The Masterplan" is brilliantly orchestrated with string and brass sections, and Noel delivers perhaps his best vocal performance to date. The lyrics are unquestionably the best Noel's ever written, and the chorus is so catchy you just can't get it out of your head. It's a crime that this song was never released as a single and put on a studio album where it belongs. It's one of the best Oasis songs of all-time. In fact, although I do like "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" a little better from a personal standpoint, if I were completely impartial and rated every Oasis song for lyrical content, melody, instrumentation, originality, and vocal performance, this song would beat all other Oasis songs. I'll never understand why this song ended up as a b-side.

Overall, Oasis give you a lot of bang for the buck on this album. Sure, it could've been better if tracks like "The Swamp Song", "Fade Away", and "Headshrinker" were replaced with far superior b-sides like "Step Out", "Round Are Way", "Flashbax", or "Cum On Feel The Noize". However, this album has so much going for it that it won't disappoint anyone with an appreciation for great music. How many other bands out there could've put together an album of b-sides this good after having been around for only 3 years? If nothing else, you have to admire this band's talent and appreciate them giving their fans their money's worth with original b-sides, not boring remixes of previously released material. The bottom line: "The Materplan" is a masterpiece.

Finally, we're saved. After the over-the-top drug-fuelled mess that was Be Here Now, comes this heroic CD of redemption from that Manchester band, faith in whom we all seem to have lost. Here we have B-sides. No, don't ignore it on the strength of that - Oasis are well known for putting care into B-sides. I guarantee, if you heard Acquiese or the title track, you'd never in a million years guess they played second fiddle to their respective singles.

Acquiese is fantastic. In about 4 minutes of soaring, harmonious rock, we've forgotten that Be Here Now ever happened. Suddenly we're listening to Definitely Maybe again... they're proving that they can and will really do it. And we believe them.

Underneath the Sky is a little odd, but I like it. Then Talk Tonight, which isn't bad, but I would have prefered to have Sad Song or D'Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman take it's place. Going Nowhere is the second classic here after Acquiese - sophisticated and Bacharac-like, with Noel singing worried words from before the band were signed. It's fantastic stuff.

Fade Away is amazing. Ditched in favour of Slide Away on Definitely Maybe, it would have proved the spark of life for a lesser album... there again, boasting Columbia, Supersonic and Cigarettes & Alcohol, DM needed anything but more livening. So here it is, finally achieving album status. "While we're living, the dreams we have as children fade away." A harsh truth, belted out with such energy we don't care.

Then the Swamp Song. The strange little instrumental that probably mystified folks in it's respective slots on ...Morning Glory, it's a riotous party-starter. Guitars and harmonica's link to perfection. For those few minutes, you feel like you're in the front row listening to Oasis wow-ing the crowd. This is them at their most raw and un-diluted.

The I Am The Walrus cover is the only one I don't think much of, purely because it sounds a little out of place - probably because it's not an Oasis song anyway. Still, it's entertaining enough, and sufficient padding until Listen Up, which begins with a Supersonic-sounding intro, but developing into it's own song. Then Rockin' Chair, "I'm older than I wish to be, this town holds no more for me." Odd how most of Noel's more reflective lyrics ended up in B-Sides... and a pity, too.

Half The World Away is the next classic after Going Nowhere. Cruelly never released, it got it's fame by becoming the Royle Family theme. Still, I'd rather have seen this calm little acoustic achieve single status. Next, depressing (It's Good) To Be Free... written in turbulent times for the band, performed well. Still, can't hold a candle to Stay Young. There's one the band hate, yet the fans love. It's upbeat, if somewhat irrelevant (well they're not young are they). Headshrinker is raw live material, and the show stops with the Masterplan. Easily one of the finest Oasis songs, it is sophisticated in Whatever style. Truly beautiful, perfect sounding... and the mind boggles as to why it's a B-Side. I'd easily prefer it to Wonderwall.

All in all, Oasis are redeemed. This is what they're all about, how they started and why they're here, all in 14 tracks. These songs have as much right to be here as any, despite their status. The album stands second only to Definitely Maybe. It's not a careless mistake, like Be Here Now. And it's not good but not quite perfect, like ...Morning Glory. Frankly anyone who doesn't consider it an official album probably hasn't listened properly enough. If it weren't for this one, I doubt anyone would care about Oasis anymore. 5 Stars? Damned right.

Okay, how many bands can release a compilation of B-sides (yes, B-sides, in other words the stuff Oasis deemed wasn't `good enough' to make it as singles!) that's so crammed with blisteringly good rock, it blows away most bands' A-side back catalogue?

This is an incredible album. Top honors go to The Masterplan, It's Good to be Free, Acquiesce, Fade Away... the list goes on... Yes, with their newer work they've failed to live up to the standards they set over a decade ago, but I defy any rock fan to listen to this and not love it.

Liam's trademark sneering vocal, Noel's thumping riffs, a sprinkling of lead guitar feedback... classic Oasis. What more could you ask for?

If you like Oasis, particularly their early work, you have to have this album.

Few would argue that the most essential Oasis albums are the first two, Definitely Maybe from August 1994 and (What's The Story) Morning Glory from October 1995, when they were young and mad for it, and Noel Gallagher had a pocket book seemingly stuffed to capacity with classic songs. So prolific was he that the singles from that brief period contained a further 20 new songs on the B-sides most of which were the equal of those on the albums, some arguably superior.

With the exception of their debut single, Supersonic, none of these had been released in America, hence the idea of compiling the best of the B-sides onto an album for their benefit. The track listing was apparently chosen by fans on the Internet with some influence from Noel Gallagher, and two of his justly favourite compositions, Underneath The Sky and The Masterplan, make it onto the album alongside obvious musts like Acquiesce and Fade Away. All date from 1994 and 1995 apart from two 1997 recordings that appear on singles extracted from Be Here Now.

The biggest omission is the non-album single Whatever, perhaps excluded on the grounds that it was not a B-side. Step Out (the B-side of Don't Look Back In Anger), removed from Morning Glory for legal reasons due to its similarity to Stevie Wonder's Uptight, misses out again, as does the anthemic Round Are Way, and the Slade cover Cum On Feel The Noize. However, rockers like Headshrinker and the Bacharach-inspired Going Nowhere easily earn their places in the company of the likes of the acoustic ballad Talk Tonight and the more recent (though written in 1990) Going Nowhere.

Completists should note that the live I Am The Walrus, recorded at a soundcheck in Gleneagles, fades at 6.24, whereas on the Cigarettes And Alcohol EP it is complete at 8.14. Listen Up has been shorn of 18 seconds from its guitar solo, and Half A World Away, now known to the nation as the theme of The Royle Family, inexplicably fades out just a couple of seconds short of its natural end as heard on the Whatever EP.

However, on the strength of these supposedly second division songs, perhaps there are actually three essential Oasis albums